Ozzy Osbourne Recalls Last Phone Call With Lemmy

On the December 2015 day Lemmy Kilnisterdied, the Motorhead frontman received a phone call from Ozzy Osbourne. In a new interview, Osbourne revealed the details of the day he lost his friend, which involved an attempt to see him one last time.

“I phoned him on the day he died," he told Metal Hammer at the Metal Hammer Golden God Awards. "I knew he was dying. He didn't even know it was me. I had to say to him, ‘It's Ozzy, Lem.’ He just gurgled down the phone to me. I said, ‘Lemmy, for fuck sake, stay there, I'm coming.'

“I said to Sharon, ‘Fuck it, get in the car, we're going around to his apartment.' And just as we were leaving, she came up to me and said, ‘Don't worry, he's gone.’ And I went, 'Oh God … ’ I just sunk. It hit me really hard, I'm not going to pretend it didn't.”

Even though he didn't get to say goodbye to Lemmy in person, Osbourne was able to pay his last respects at the memorial service a few weeks later in Los Angeles. “His memorial was something else as well,” he recalled. “I thought to myself, ‘Jesus, if he was looking down at this shower!’ There was a tray of drinks as you went into the church. I thought 'This is Lemmy all right!'"

Remembering the final days of his friend also prompted Osbourne to reflect on his history with Motorhead, whose classic lineup of Lemmy, guitarist "Fast" Eddie Clarke and drummer Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor have all died in the past few years.

“All of the original members of that band are gone now," he said. "Eddie went earlier in the year and Phil went a few years back as well. They opened for me on my first American tour, that's a memory I'll take to my grave, you know. Good times -- they were all good guys. I miss them all, to be honest. You have to look at it and wonder how you've managed to stay here this long. We've lost some good ones, you know."